Martin Hayes: Breaking new ground

Martin Hayes doesn’t like to stand still. The fiddle virtuoso from East Clare has made it a hallmark of his career to seek out creative ideas from beyond his musical tradition.

Martin Hayes doesn’t like to stand still. The fiddle virtuoso from East Clare has made it a hallmark of his career to seek out creative ideas from beyond the musical tradition in which he was reared. A glance through his substantial back catalogue reveals a myriad of collaborations with high-calibre musicians, drawn from a musically diverse pool.

“For me it is about the beauty of melody and trying to figure out what you can do as a player to reveal that. I think if you focus on the true quality of the melody, music becomes universal.”